Other projects

Ula Sickle (CA/PL) is a choreographer and
performer, living and working in Brussels, Belgium. From a background in
contemporary dance, she works across disciplines, and often in collaboration with
artists from other domains such as the visual arts, contemporary music or architecture.
While her work takes many forms, from film to installation to live performance,
it centers on a choreographic approach to movement and a work on perception and
reception, specific to the live arts.

Ula’s
interest in looking for an alternative to the cannon of contemporary dance, has
led her to seek out performers who embody other movement histories than her own.
The solos Solid Gold (2010) & Jolie (2011) as well as the group performance Kinshasa Electric (2014) which premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, are all collaborations with performers from Kinshasa (DR
Congo). Extreme Tension (2012) is a
powerful solo for a self-taught dancer in her 60’s, and Prelude (2014) is a solo for a female vocalist. Frequently centered around strong
performers, Ula searches for forms of choreographic writing, where the cultural
coding and political power of ‘popular’ dancing can be revealed or where the
musicality and materiality of the body itself can take center stage.

Born
in Toronto in 1978, she studied Art History & Semiotics at the University
of Toronto and Performance Studies in Paris, before attending P.A.R.T.S.
Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels. Her theoretical
background informs her working process, however she searches for an approach
that is both conceptually grounded and physically curious. From 2008-2010 Ula pursued
her interest in the visual arts and film, studying at Le Fresnoy, a
post-graduate media program in the North of France. The visual aspect of her performance
work, in particular the use of light, is also very central. The video works Looping the Loop (2009) and Atomic 5.1 (2010), as well as the filmic
dance pieces, Light Solos (2010-13)
all stem from her time at Le Fresnoy.